


black prince

by myn_x



Series: SportsFest'18 BR Fills [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Crushes, Developing Relationship, Lots of casual touching, M/M, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 12:13:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15096467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myn_x/pseuds/myn_x
Summary: what's better than some succulents at sunset





	black prince

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ryekamasaki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryekamasaki/gifts).



> this is my favorite fill i've written so far, for [ry's prompt](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/7464.html?thread=782120#cmt782120)
> 
> TIME: A summer sunset  
> PLACE: The tiny balcony of an apartment 
> 
> i had already decided that this would involve iwaizumi showing kyoutani his succulent garden, and then i saw [this wonderful post](http://frenums.tumblr.com/post/172625126367), which heavily inspired this fic
> 
> the succulents mentioned are based on [my own](https://twitter.com/lovedeluxxxe/status/1010901691384856578) :3

Iwaizumi's phone buzzes, and he wipes the dirt from one hand against his shorts to check the screen. As soon as he sees kohl-rimmed eyes staring up at him, he snatches the phone up to answer the call. 

"Yo."

"Iwaizumi, help, I...I think I'm having an existential crisis?" Kyoutani says in a rush, with a slight panicked lilt at the end. "Is that what it's called?"

"Yes." Iwaizumi's heart stutters at the fear in his voice, but he doesn't wanna freak Kyoutani out more by freaking out with him, so he forces his voice to stay low and even. He glances at the sinking sun. "I know it's getting kinda late, but can you come over?"

Kyoutani doesn't even hesitate. "Sure, sure. I'll be right there."

The connection drops, and Iwaizumi steps from his balcony back into his apartment to wait for Kyoutani, repressing the urge to send him a million messages. He would drop everything and go to Kyoutani himself, but he doesn't want to risk making Kyoutani sit there and wait for him, if this is something serious. 

Action of some kind has always been an effective remedy when Kyoutani is feeling too much at once.

Five minutes of pacing later, Iwaizumi pulls open his front door to an out-of-breath Kyoutani, who flings himself at Iwaizumi, throwing his arms around him before Iwaizumi can even gather his breath for a greeting. There isn’t even time for Iwaizumi to search those dark, shadowy eyes. 

Too quickly he’s staggering backward, and he reaches up to hold Kyoutani to his chest, not minding the strength with which Kyoutani's fingers dig into his back as he anchors himself. 

Iwaizumi awkwardly kicks the door shut behind Kyoutani, then maneuvers them into the apartment proper without letting him go. He raises one hand to run his fingers through the soft fuzz of Kyoutani’s buzzcut, which must remind Kyoutani of where he is and what he's doing, because he pulls back abruptly and rubs the back of his hand over his mouth in a poor attempt at hiding the pink on his cheeks.

Kyoutani averts his eyes, too, which is unlike him, but he doesn't pull away when Iwaizumi hooks their pinkies so he can lead them to his couch. 

Once they're seated, just close enough that their legs brush each other with the slightest movement, Iwaizumi ruffles Kyoutani's hair again; his touch isn't heavy this time, but playful. 

"So what's going on?"

Kyoutani stews for a moment before blurting, "It's just--why? Why am I alive? I'm not good for anything that's not destroying." 

He stares down at his hands as he talks, crumpling them into angry fists. 

"Hey. Hey," Iwaizumi says softly. He takes Kyoutani's hands in his and forces his fingers to relax, one by one, then traces circles into his palms with one fingertip, light enough that he can tell it tickles by the way Kyoutani's eyebrow twitches. "Enough of that."

Kyoutani looks at Iwaizumi sideways. "What are you doing."

"I need you to not talk about yourself like that, like you're some monster, okay? That's not who you are."

Kyoutani grumbles something unintelligible as he looks away, but he lets Iwaizumi draw invisible lines all over his hands and forearms, each touch growing in weight until Kyoutani can no longer bear the press of his fingers. 

Iwaizumi doesn't pull away until he sees a muscle jumping in Kyoutani's jaw. He thinks for a moment, then asks, "Can I show you something?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Iwaizumi leads Kyoutani to his tiny balcony, gesturing for him to go out first.

With a guarded expression, Kyoutani slowly steps out onto the balcony and into the succulent garden Iwaizumi had been tending to when he’d received the call. 

He'd been in the middle of repotting some of the individual plants into a single larger planter, setting aside some leaves that had popped off to bring inside. There had been a few pups, too, which he was planning to put back into the parents' pots once he got the others situated. 

"I picked up a new hobby," Iwaizumi explains, suddenly sheepish. "What do you think?"

He lets Kyoutani take them all in, the different varieties of echeveria and the zebra haworthia and the bright green aloe plant all by itself in the corner, on top of a little table. The sunset filters down on them as if through amber- and rose quartz-colored glass, and it’s like they’ve entered a separate pocket of space and time.

Kyoutani stoops to look at a plant with a tight, dark cluster of leaves that are nearly black at the tips. "What's this one."

"That’s an echeveria called Black Prince." 

At Kyoutani’s snort, Iwaizumi smiles wryly, already prepared for this exact response to the plants’ common names several times over. 

“Did you name it that?” Kyoutani asks. It’s a murmur, at odds with his bark of a laugh, so low Iwaizumi can barely hear it.

 _He thinks I name the plants_ , Iwaizumi realizes. The warmth that swoops in his chest has nothing to do with the last few rays of sun that light the balcony. 

“No, but it’s fitting, isn’t it?”

Kyoutani nods and points to another pot. “And this one.” 

The plant’s tubular leaves look as if they’ve been coated with fine, white hairs. It’s one Iwaizumi hadn’t yet taken apart to grow into separate plants, so their dense leaves would have room to thrive.

“That’s Woolly Senecio, or a cocoon plant.”

“Oh,” is all Kyoutani says. He fingers the plant a little, then rubs his fingertips together, moving on to the next plant, and then the next one and the next. 

“I don’t name them, but I do have favorites,” Iwaizumi says. He’s saved them for last. 

There’s his cluster of jade plants, and then finally he introduces Kyoutani to his spiky aloe. 

“This one here will be super useful when it’s fully matured. Aloe’s good for you, inside and out.”

Kyoutani looks up from the plant and back at Iwaizumi, licking his lips. “Is it?”

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi says after a pause. He’d been ready to spout off a bunch of facts about the health benefits of aloe, but with the way Kyoutani is looking at him, his expression open and so expectant, the words sit like lead on his tongue.

Kyoutani doesn’t break his gaze from Iwaizumi, who grows hotter in the face by the second. Does he sound too much like a proud plant parent, or some kind of oddball plant whisperer?

“Well. How do you take care of them?” Kyoutani asks. 

Iwaizumi can’t help but stare, marveling at the seriousness in Kyoutani’s voice, and the quiet intensity with which he regards Iwaizumi as he speaks. He didn’t expect that Kyoutani would become so invested so quickly. 

Kyoutani had taken all his plant talk in patiently and it had built up to this, the first inflected show of curiosity. It saves Iwaizumi, in a way. From saying something far stupider than a list of aloe’s medicinal properties. 

 _Plants, please talk about the plants, not how cute you think he is, Hajime_. 

He has to swallow to get his heart out of his throat. 

“Yeah, I was going to say...You asked why you’re alive. Well. I want you to pick one of the leaves, or an offsets --” Iwaizumi points to the row of baby plants -- “and you’re going to raise it.”

“Are you going to show me how, or do I have to figure it out myself?”

Iwaizumi frowns, smothering the urge to shake Kyoutani. “Listen, have I ever been the one to make you figure stuff out for yourself?”

When Kyoutani doesn’t answer -- he just hums and inspects one of the plants -- Iwaizumi says, “Alrighty then, pay attention.”

The balcony is too tiny to move without them bumping into each other, which is it’s own distraction, but Iwaizumi shows Kyoutani how to make a hole and place the plant inside, then how to cover the roots with more dirt. He lets Kyoutani arrange the succulents how he wants, and as they transplant them they stack the containers and push them out of the way. 

"And you have to be careful not to overwater them,” Iwaizumi explains, sprinkling just the dirt around the plants, careful to avoid their leaves. “It’s easy to think they need just as much water as regular plants, but they’re sturdy little things.”

Kyoutani nods, and they keep working, long after the sun has set and Iwaizumi has to flick the balcony light on. 

And as they work, Iwaizumi explains how to get a new plant from one of the leaves he popped off. He goes through all the dos and don'ts and every trick in the book for successful propagation. Kyoutani listens intently, nodding and grunting here and there as Iwaizumi talks. 

Kyoutani ends up choosing to grow a Black Prince.

“That one will have different coloring than the original plant,” Iwaizumi says, putting the leaf in a tiny plant. “Let it callus over, then we can go from there.”

By the time they finish, they’re both sweaty and covered in sandy dirt. They slump next to each other facing the balcony railing, looking out onto the city below. 

“I’ll admit, a lot of this is trial and error,” Iwaizumi says quietly. “You gotta find what works.”

“So,” Kyoutani says. “You’re helping me by giving me a baby plant that may or may not make it.”

“You’re missing the point of my lesson.” Iwaizumi groans. He flips Kyoutani’s hand over and presses their dirty palms together, unable to repress the shiver at the gritty friction. “You have gentle hands, Kyoutani. It will survive.”

Kyoutani doesn’t answer. But he leans over to rest his head on Iwaizumi’s shoulder, squeezing his hand in a silent thank you.

 

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://fucklev.tumblr.com) || [twitter](https://twitter.com/lovedeluxxxe)


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